Healthy Meals in an Instant Pot? Easy Peasy

Recently, I finally bought into the Instant Pot revolution. Pressure cooking seemed terrifying to me and an awesome way to get shrapnel in my face. But, I was wrong. Pressure cooking is easy, results in very quick clean up, and can be the set-it-and-forget-it path to healthy eating we all need. So, are healthy meals in an Instant Pot possible? Yes!

Set yourself up for pressure cooking success.

I chose the 6qt, 7-in-1 Instant Pot. The size is perfect for my family and landed well in my desired price point. I also found the seven functions easy to understand. If you are a pressure cooking newbie, don’t fear, the Instant Pot comes with an easy to understand instruction booklet. Follow it, and you should have no problems.

After a few meals, though, I wanted more choices in the one-pot wonder category. The Instant Pot comes with a small rack, but I wanted to steam veggies while cooking chicken breasts, pork chops, rice, or a frittata. So, I purchased an accessory package that included a steam basket, spring-form pan, taller egg rack, silicone baking mold, and silicone pot holders. Once I unpacked my accessories, I was ready to cook easy healthy meals and stop the “I’m too tired to cook. Lest’s just order in,” diet sabotage.

If you want to take your one-pot wonder game even further, consider the Stack-n-Cook stackable inserts for six or eight quart pressure cookers. The one below is on my wishlist!

If you want to consider your pressure cooker options, check out the Mealthy Multipot 9-in-1 programmable pressure cooker. The price point is on point and it comes with a few accessories such as a steam basket. It is highly customer rated, and I must admit I was torn, but decided to go with the beginner of beginner pressure cookers—The Instant Pot.

If you are looking for a hearty, comforting dinner that won’t wreck your healthy day, look no further than this Instant Pot Beef Stew. After browning the meat in the pressure cooker on the sauté function, cooking all the ingredients together means that your veggies will maintain their beautiful color and the meat will be tender and flavorful without disintegrating into sad, little threads floating in your broth. One pot wonder!

Ground pork, green chiles, and tangy lime juice are the stars of this chili. And, no need to soak the dried cannellini beans, just throw them in the Instant Pot. This flavorful chili is done in under an hour, with very little prep time. After a chilly afternoon of shoveling snow or carting the kids from one activity to the next, this chili will warm the body and soul.

I love stuffed peppers, but baking them in the oven after preparing all the ingredients for the stuffing takes too long for a week night and trashes my kitchen. With leftover rice, these Instant Pot stuffed peppers come together in a snap. Combine browned ground meat of choice (turkey works great!), mozzarella cheese, rice, tomato sauce, onions, and herb mix, then stuff four to six red bell peppers for a tasty treat of a meal done in under a half hour. Toss some fresh green beans in the Instant Pot steamer basket at the same time as the peppers simmer away, and you’ve got a full, healthy meal.

Pork tenderloin with steamed veggies and roasted potatoes has always been a go-to healthy meal for me. But, now, with my newly acquired pressure cooking skills, this healthy meal in an Instant Pot is so much faster! First, I sauté red potatoes (diced to one-inch cubes) in the Instant Pot. Then I toss the potatoes into the steamer basket along with fresh broccoli. Set the steamer basket on the small rack that comes with the Instant pot, above required liquid, then stack an accessory rack with the pork tenderloin on top of the steamer basket. All of this will be ready in seven minutes. Seven minutes! For the perfect Instant Pot pork tenderloin, click here.

Most all of my favorite meals could be categorized as “Sunday Suppers.” So, I really hate to only eat what I want on Sunday. With the Instant Pot, one of my favorite Sunday Suppers is now fast enough for a Tuesday, Thursday, or even a dreaded Monday. Roasted, skin-on chicken breasts with roasted potatoes and carrots is so yummy, both hearty and delicate, unless of course you dry out the chicken. But, dry chicken is hard to come by from a pressure cooker.

If you ask me, anything that makes sticking to my diabetic exchange diet is well worth the investment of time, energy, and money. Over the last few weeks I’ve learned that cooking healthy meals in an Instant Pot saves time and energy and leaves more cash in my wallet instead of the food delivery guy’s pocket. So, go forth! Eat healthy and get cooking—pressure cooking that is.